The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1887-11-04

| wHIcn every Uouy suOOIu Tcau WHO IL
capable Of thinking, (aDd there are
thousands incapable.) The book costs
only ten cents.
Already are the sovereign people be.
coming but a rot faineant, like the
Merovingian kings of France. like the
Mikados of Japan. The shadow Of
power is theirs; but the substance Of
power is being grasped and welded by
the bandit chiefs Of the stock exchange,
the robber leaders who organize politics
into machines. In any matter in which
they are interested, the little finger Of
the great corporations is thicker than
the loins of the people Is it sovereign
States or is it railroad corporations that
are really represented 10 the elective
Senate which we have substituted for
an hereditary House of Lords? Where
is the count or marquis or duke 10
Europe who wields such power as is
welded by such simple citizens as our
Stanfords, Goulds, and Vanderbilts?
What does legal equality amount to,
when the fortunes Of some citizens can
only be estimated in hundreds of mil
lions, and other citizens have nothing?
What does the suffrage amount to when,
under threat of discharge from employ
ment, citizens can be forced to vote as
their employers dictate? when votes can
be bought on election day for few dol.
lars apiece? If there are citizens SO
dependent that they must vote as their
employers wish, SO poor that few dol.
lars on election day seem to them more
than any higher consideration, then
giving them votes simply adds to the
political power Of wealth, and universal
suffrage becomes the surest basis for the
establishment of tyranny. "Tyranny"
There is lesson in the very word.
What are our American bosses but the
exact antitypes of the Greek tyrants,
from whom the word comes? They
who gave the word tyrant its meaning
did not claim to rule by right divine.
They were simply the Grand Sachsms
of Greek Tammanys, the organizers Of
Hellenic 'stalwart machines
Even if universal history did not
teach the lesson, it is in the United
States already becoming very evident
that political equality can only continue
to exist upon basis of social equality;
that where the disparity in the distri-
button of wealth increases, political
democracy only makes easier the con.
centration ofpower, and must inevitably
lead to tyranny and anarchy. And it
is already evident that there is nothing
in political democracy, nothing in pop
ular education, nothing in any of our
American institutions, to prevent the
most enormous disparity in the distribu-
tion of wealth. Nowhere in the world are
such great fortunes growing up as in
the United States. Considering that
the average income of the working
masses of our people is only few hun
dred dollars year, fortune of MIL
lion dollars is monstrous thing-a
more monstrous and dangerous thing
under democratic government than
anywhere else. Yet fortunes of ten and
twelve million dollars are with US ceas-
Ing to be noticeable. We already have
citizens whose wealth can only be esti.
mated in hundreds of millions, and be-
fore the end of the century, if present
tendencies continue, we are likely to
have fortunes estimated in thousands
of millions--such monstrous fortunes as
the world has never seen since the
growth of similar fortunes ate out the
heart of Rome. And the necessary
correlative of the growth Of such for
tunes is the improverishment and loss
of independence on the part of the
masses. These great aggregations of
wealth are like great trees, which strike
deep roots aud spread wide branches,
and which, by sucking up the moisture
from the soil and intercepting the sun
shine, stunt and kill the vegetation
around them. When a capital of a
million dollars comes into competition
with capitals OF thousands of dollars,
the smaller capitalists must be driven
out of the business or destroyed. With
great capital nothing can compete save
great capital. Hence, every aggrega.
tion of wealth increases the tendency to
the aggregation of wealth, and decrsas.
es the possibility of the employee ever
becoming more than an employee,
compelling him to compete with his
fellows as to who will work cheapest for
the great capitalists competition that
can have but one result, that of forcing
wages to the minimum at which the
supply of labor can be kept up. Where
We are is not SO important as in what
direction We are going, and in the
United States all tendencies are clearly
in this direction. A while ago, and
any journeyman shoemaker could set
up in business for himself with the saw.
ings of a few months. But now the
operative shoemaker could.not in life
time save enough from his wages to go
into business tor himself. And, now
that great capital has entered agricul-